Infrastructure

Several major airport credits could be negatively affected by operational shifts in the wake of the US Airways/American Airlines Merger, officially announced Thursday.

Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell reaffirms commitment to alternative transit options following the release of a study placing Oahu's rush hour traffic second in the nation behind Los Angeles.

Public finance officials and infrastructure investors need to stop talking about "the deal" and start managing political risks with clear, easily understood language, participants at a U.S. Chamber of Commerce panel said Wednesday.

Chicago's plans to enter the market later this year with up to $900 million of O'Hare International Airport revenue debt to raise about $300 million for the airport's capital improvement program and ongoing $8 billion runway expansion program.

Market participants say munis are key to reaching the infrastructure goals laid out in President Obama's State of the Union Address, but caution that cuts to munis' tax benefits could make it difficult to fund the large-scale projects Obama described.

Transportation and business leaders on Wednesday discussed controversial solutions for funding American infrastructure, including Build America Bonds, gasoline tax increases, and wider use of tolling.

New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority held more than $90 million in funds and bank accounts that it could have used to meet budgeted costs, state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said.

The Indiana Motor Speedway would be able to issue up to $100 million of bonds backed by a new pledge of state taxes under a bill set to be debated Thursday.

President Obama is expected to focus on the need for infrastructure investments in his fifth State of the Union address Tuesday night amid a sluggish economic backdrop.

Infrastructure finance experts and high-speed rail advocates are largely united in the belief that public-private partnerships are the way to finance ambitious bullet train plans, but the exact details continue to be elusive.